Transparent purple algea

[mooman]

I have a stange new algea gowing in my 10g planted tank. It is very thin, takes a ton of scrubbing to remove, and has a slight purple tint to it. I've never seen it before. Anybody know of it?

On a side note, there are trumpet snails breeding like crazy in this tank and they manage to keep most algea at bay. BTW I've heard you can't control trumpet snail pop by limiting nutrients like you can pond snails. Is this true? I tend to believe this since pond snail pops are stable in all my tanks, but trumpets are starting to get a little out of control. I know about using lettuce to trap them, but just haven't gotten around to it.

 

[zkt]

Never heard of it but Im kinda new at this.
Got a pic ?

 

[midiamin]

Purple algae! Big cleaning and water change comin up. Probably from all the snail waste. I find that culling those snails by size you eliminate the egg layers. 1 cull per week. Each week, the next largest size. It takes about a month to get control but, no egg layers, no excess snails. You are bound to miss a few egg layers but they will keep you population going but controlable..

thePlantMan cometh..............

 

[beviking]

Oh for Gods sake would you relax with the "thePlantMan cometh.............." sig!! :thud:
UV sterilizer for green water instead of fixing the problem?
Now, cull the snails instead of fixing the problem too!?!?
With all due respect midiamin (I realize my reply is only based on the few replies I've seen you post...it is NOT personal), are you just reading posts and reposting(from another site!) or using google to find answers (nothing wrong with that)?
If you quit providing food for the snails!!! They stop reproducing!!! You shouldn't need to cull.
btw...I realize your sig is "thePlantMan cometh............." and NOT "theSnailMan cometh.........."! :laugh: :laugh: :joke:

Purple algae? Could it be bba?
Nutrient excess = algae = food for snails, limit their food and you limit their population. Can't find it, but I thought I had come across something that had said MTS will eat eggs of other snails. Could be the reason for their pop. explosion?

Use a cheap breader box/net. the kind that has a plastic frame with netting around it. Take out the four corner pcs of frame and it becomes a collapsible box. Tie some string (fishing line) to two side (four corners) and bait it. When the snails are on it, pull up the line. Make sure you use heavy enough fishing line though...you never know what you'll catch! :joke:

 

[Jay]

Purple slime algae sounds like it could by cyanobacteria.
I have been reading lately that cardinal shrimp will eat snail eggs or baby snails you might want to look into that.

 

[yohkos]

On a daily basis I take a net and scoop up snails to keep them under control. I am thinking of getting a dwarf puffer in another tank...I should never run out of snail food for him. Are these little guys easy to raise? I know they are aggressive and would probably put two by themselves in a planted 10 gallon. Think this would be okay?

 

[midiamin]

My replies are based on experience only. No need to defend them. when folks ask for help, i try. I'm only here to help. I know i rub some folks the wrong way sometimes, but I also know that some folks go off half cocked without knowing all that is going on. C'est la vie!

UV sterilizers do work. Snails will survive on anything so if you have plants and that is all there is to eat....... what do you think they will eat? Also keep in mind that they will brred anywhere.... in the filter etc., so check there too.

Slime algae is always available and you can't even see it sometimes. A box seems cumbersome an obtrusive but it works.. You could just take a small piece of white PVC pipe and sink it in the back of the tank. It will attract a load of snails. just remove the pipe each night about an hour or two after lights out and and clean them off. Many different way of dealing with the problem. I prefer cull.

the PlantMan goeth away.......................

 

[Blinky]

What mooman is describing doesn't sound like Cyanobacteria - cyano doesn't take a ton of scrubbing to remove, nor is it thin. It sounds like a hard 'spot' algae, I've seen this stuff in a LFS tank.
AFAIK puffers can't tackle MTS the way they can other snails, I'd do research on that before investing in a puffer (unless you really want one regardless). Keep laying traps for them and culling them out, eventually you'll get the numbers under control. Feeding less should help too - they can't breed like crazy without an abundance of food.

 

[mooman]

Correct, it's not cyanobacteria (I know that stuff). This stuff you can barely even see unless you look at it from the side of the tank.

the snail pop should start to go down now that they've cleaned every bit of algea and I added some ottos to outcompete them. Other than the barely noticable purple algea, this tank has never looked better.

BTW Filtration is just a sponge filter that hides behind a piece of slate.